Arrangement for preventing the formation of smoke in the production of zinc.



A. ROITZHEIM.

ARRANGEMENT FOR PREVENTING THE FORMATION 0F SMGKE IN THE'PRODUCTION 0FZINC. I`

` APPLlcATIoN FILED APR. l. |913,

1,15%()50. a Patented Apg. 31, 1915.

erases f ALENDER ROITZHEIM, 0F DUISBURG-RUHRORT, GERMANY.

ARRANGEMENT FOR PREVENTING THE FORMATION 0F SMOKE IN y'IHIE RODUCTION 0FZINC.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 3i, 1915.v

Application filed April l, 19l3. Serial No. 758,174.

Germany, have invented certain new andv useful improvements inArrangements for Preventing the Formation of Smoke in the Production ofZinc, of which the following is a spec1icat1onL- My inventlon relates toan Improvement in plants for the production of zinc, in

which the ores are treated in vertical mutiles oi a Zinc reductionfurnace. lith this method of producing zinc the great amount of smoke isfound very disagreeable and to delay the work, which is formed, when thewhite hot lea'vings, on being removed from the inutiles, come in contactwith the atmosphere. This smoke consists of finely divided oxidizedzinc, and often also of sulfur and leadcompounds, when the ores treatedcon` tained sulfur and lead respectively. This sm oke is particularlydisagreeable in emptying vertical muies, as it is necessary for the mento enter the space beneath the furnace, that is the space into which themutlies open, for emptying the latter, andas the large quantities ofsmoke produced can hardly be dealt with in a suiiicient manner, even byusing artificial draft arrangements.

lt is the object of the present invention'to obviate these troubles bypreventing the formation of such smoke.

rlhe invention consists in that immediately below each of the muiiles(of which a plural;

ity is combined in one furnace) a container is provided which is cooledby water or steam, into which container the white-hot lcavings emergingfrom the Inutile will enter, being there cooled in such a manner, thatthe metal compounds contained in them can no more be oxidized.Preferably only such cooling media are employed-which have an energeticcoolingl effect, and as hereinbe` fore stated, either water or saturatedsteam is best suited for the purpose. For similar reasons it will beadvisable to construct the, said cooling vessel of iron, bronze orcopper and to make its walls comparatively thin.

In the accompanying drawing the invention is exemplified in aconstructional form.

ris a vertical muffle in a furnace e, which is heated in a suitablemanner.

b' .is a jacketed vessel made of a suitable metal,v between the doublewalls of which acurrent of water or steam flows, so that an effectivecooling is obtained. The vessel is suspended in a suitablemanner,and'held tightly against the lower edge of the Inutile, so that it maybe considered to form an eX- tensign of the mutlie. This vessel isclosed below by a gate or as shown in the drawing by the leavingsthemselves heaped on the conical plate c. This place c is secured to ascrew i, which screws in the stationary plate lc, whereby the saidconical plate can' be raised or lowered to control the rapidity of thedischarge and thereby regulate the degree of cooling of the leavings.

Z is the supply pipe for the cooling Water,

which flows through the jacket space g bel tween' the walls of thevessel b and runs out through suitable outlet pipes into adischarge orgutter f.

l1, are windows in the walls of the furnace for observing the processwithin the muiie.

The operation is as follows: The leavings are removed at the lower endof the vessel Z2. The white hot contents of the mulile will then sinkdown into the said vessel b, where the leavings will becooled down sofar that theyemerge into the vatmosphere at so low' a temperature thatno oXidization will occur. The height of the vessel will obviouslydepend on the area of the muiie and the rapidity at which the latter isto be emptied.

l claim:

' 1. n a zinc retort furnace, a hollow cooled element forming anextension of the Inutile outside of the heating zone, and means forcirculating a cooling medium through said element, said elementoperating to chill the residues after passing through the retort.

2. In a r[.inc retort furnace, a vertically arranged hollowcoolingelementV lforming a i support for the retort, and an extension thereofarranged outside of the heatingzone and operating to cool the residuesafter having passed through the retort.

In a zinc retort furnace,the combination witha vertical retort, ofahollow cooling element for supporting said retort andforming anextenslon thereof outside of the heat-- ing zone and operating to coolthe resdueS after they have passed through the retort, means ooperatingwith said extension to regulate the cooling action thereof;v anc meansfor circulating a cooling medium through the 'cooling element.

n ostimony whereof a'x my sgnaaure 1n presence of two wltnesses.

ALEXANDER ROTZHEIM'. [L tnesses:

HELEN NUFER, ALBERT NUTER.

